Turkey – OECD highlights ongoing corruption
It seems that almost every week OECD releases their anti-corruption reporting and most times, there are mainly issues that are important, but not truly serious. The most recent report on Turkey, as described by The National Law Review shows a pretty dismal report regarding Turkey and its anti-corruption work. “The OECD examiners found Turkish authorities not only failed to enforce anti-bribery laws but, in some instances, actively intervened to shield bribe recipients. “There were many examples of very poor behavior within the judiciary and prosecutors as well as a lack of support to whistleblowers. This included seventeen years of recommendations, specifically disregarding whistleblower protections. Basically, nothing is being done, nor is there any move to do anything.
Why do we care about the situation in Turkey? Turkey has a role in the international stage, within the European/Asian locale. Unfortunately, what the situation in Turkey shows us, there are essentially no effective measures to combat local and foreign bribery in Türkiye. If anything, the report highlighted the fact that the government essentially views anti-corruption efforts as almost terrorism. We have seen this in the arrest of many local politicians across Turkey, as well as other retrograde actions by the Turkish government. This means that external anti-corruption efforts will be essential to ensure that corrupt actions are brought to the forefront. Anti-corruption activists as well as international governmental voices, need to continue publicizing the harmful actions and holding the Turkish government accountable. Autocracy and anti-corruption do not work well together, but the more transparency about what is going on is essential.
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